Opinion: Chicago Burbs/Austin/Phoenix (Aurora, Naperville: appointed, best cities, home)

[ipsect04tl]

I'm a 22 year old college graduate looking to get away from the crumbling economy and mundane lifestyle of Western Michigan. I have a degree in Network Security and about three years of experience in IT as a Network Technician. My career ambitions are to work for a progressive company as a Security administrator/engineer/analyst/. As you might imagine, I'm single with no kids or family dependencies.

I would love to move to SoCal, but don't think the regional gains are worth the financial sacrifices. Thus, I'm looking at other parts of the country that offer similar amenities for a lower cost. I'm particularly looking at Phoenix, Austin and the Chicago burbs. Chicago burbs seem to be the obvious choice due to vicinity, but in the back of mind I desire to get away from the hostile winters and dreariness.

Things that are important to me:

* Cost of living
* Career opportunities in IT
* Social attitudes
* Diversity
* Young Professional scene
* Politics
* Advancement

If any of you have lived in any of the above mentioned locales, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

[NSH]

if you have no kids, there is really nothing for you in the Chicago burbs or Phoenix. Go to Texas and live it up.

[Peachie]

Austin.

Okay, I am biased. I am a Texan, and have called Austin home for 5.5 years now and am moving to Chicago only because my boyfriend got a job there, then presented me with a nice diamond ring and is now my fiance.

It's a young city, lots of high-tech, and no brutal winters here. If you can handle the brutal summers, I have no doubt you would love it here.

[ipsect04tl]

Really...Interesting...I have always thought that Chicago (perhaps not the burbs) have alot to offer in regard to cultural and nightlife entertainment?

[NSH]

Originally Posted by ipsect04tl

Really...Interesting...I have always thought that Chicago (perhaps not the burbs) have alot to offer in regard to cultural and nightlife entertainment?

Chicago > Austin > Chicago Burbs

[Steve-o]

Phoenix is drab. I go there every year (family) and at first it seems like paradise. Then after 2 weeks it becomes about as much fun as watching mold grow. Scottsdale and Paradise Valley are nice, but too expensive. Tempe is decent enough, as is Fountain Hills, but after just a few hours there I was ready to skip out. You wont find any culture (nor good food IMO) in PHX, but the winters can be nice (although they do still get snowstorms occasionally), summers are hot (dry) as you-know-where. Im talkin 145 degrees inside your car if you leave it out in the sun for an hour. Also, PHX has the most boring downtown on earth IMO. Were it not for the sports stadiums downtown, that place is a ghost town after 6:30 pm. you could probably land a jet downtown and not hit anything or anybody. BUT, Scottsdale is beautiful and very nice and has some good nightlife around Old Town. Tempe is also a college town, so there are lots of parties there too of course, but the town itself is as plain as vanilla.

Austin is nice, kinda gimmicky, lots of partyers, I dont know if thats your thing. Winters are mild, summers extremely hot and humid. I forget the name of the street, but its this long strip of restaurants (good ones too!) and bars/clubs. Thats the one part of town that is always hoppin, the rest was average IMO. Whats nice about Austin is that its in TX, which is HUGE and has diverse terrain. You can visit Dallas, Houston, El Paso, Amarillo, etc.. One BIG plus to living in TX is access to the ocean (Galveston area).

Chicago, biggest and best of the 3 as far as nightlife/arts/museums/cuisine/etc HANDS DOWN! However, winters can be brutal at times as well as summers. Chicago showed something like 57% chance of sunshine, which if you think of it, is one out of every 2 days, which isnt bad, I dont know why everyone makes Chicago out to be gloomy for months on end. Anyways, if you can handle a few days of gray clouds in a row, it will be ended with several days of sunshine to make up for it. Jobs here are excellent and pay very well (the best of the 3 youre looking into), although the downside is housing is quite expensive in most areas. The suburbs here are endless and all are equally really cool, you could spend a lifetime in the burbs and not see everything. If youre looking into the suburbs, here are my faves: Bartlett, South Elgin, Wheaton, Naperville, Lisle, Wayne, St. Charles, Geneva, Wasco, Hinsdale, Warrenville, Plainfield, Glen Ellyn, Lake Forest, etc. I cant think of them all right now. LOL theres that many! Anyways, if you want big-city nightlife,etc. Chicago is the perfect choice, you wont be disappointed. Also, schools here are highly acclaimed, with Texas having some good ones and Arizona's are rated the worst in the nation (not all of them of course, but the majority).

[ipsect04tl]

Steve-o,

Thank you so much for your comprehensive feedback. I'm starting to lean more and more on Chicago area. I grew up in Brooklyn NY, then was transplanted to Grand Rapids, MI for a fathers business. Throughout my entire stay in GR, I have tried to extract the last ounce of culture and big-city feel that GR has to offer. Needless to say, GR offers very little of this. It is growing, but certainly not fast enough and sans any vibrancy. The suburbs are especially depressing with their staunch religious and political overtones.

Just as an example....At our company party a few ago, the comedian that we hired made a subtle joke about religion and sexual orientation. To my suprise, he was asked to leave the stage by one of our conservative managers. This is what you can expect out of Grand Rapids.

As to the Chicago burbs, I have already visited Naperville, Evanston, and Lisle. They all seem to be nice places that are within stones throw of downtown via one of the commuter train lines. If I can ask, where do you reside Steve-o?

[Steve-o]

Im in Warrenville right now, but have lived in Naperville, St. Charles, Sycamore, West Chicago, and even Tennessee (Clarksville). I travel extensively, and spend several weeks every year doing so.

Naperville is nice, but very pricey, and well worth it. Traffic is a drag for most all suburbs, but Naperville is notorious for bad traffic. Its easy to see why: N-ville has 160K people and neighboring Aurora has a slight bit more, so traffic in that area is really bad.

Evanston is really nice too, with lots of beachfront and great neighborhoods and a nice downtown. Lake Forest is beautiful too, but waaaaaaaay out of my price range. LOL If I was a millionaire, Lake Forest or Hinsdale would be my choice, I just love those two towns.

Also, I just remembered Bloomingdale, another nice town with lots of dining/shopping/etc. You might want to check that area out too. Carol Stream isnt bad either, but the town lacks a downtown, so its kinda boring.

[KerrTown]

Pick Chicago cuz Texas sucks!!! But really Chicago is the best choice out of the three.

Austin (There is a neighborhood on the West side of Chicago of the same name. I couldn't tell if you were talking about the neighborhood or the state capital of TEXAS until you mentioned Phoenix.) is simply overrated. It is just a very small town that had 2 bread 'n butter employers until the '90s--the State of TEXAS and the University of Texas at Austin. Then high-tech companies came and overcrowded the city. I hear traffic there is terrible and there is only one major highway: IH-35. Stay away from this one and go to the other cities: Houston (my hometown; the best city in Texas ), DFW (the stereotypical cowboys live there), or San Antonio (way much better than Austin). San Antonio has varying terrain. Those same hills are in the North and West suburbs and it's flat in the inner-city.

From the Phoenix board, it can be described as sprawl. It is full of endless suburbs in a desert.

Now for Chicago: The lake is very seductive. Lots of museums and culture. There are mountains (skyscrapers) next to the lake seperated by a beach (Grant Park). The view of the skyline from Northerly Island (Museum District) is the most beautiful place in the world. The city is served by the best public transit system in the Midwest and one of the best in the USA. The north side is very dense and has historic architecture. Many major company headquarters are located in Chicagoland and the financial industry is second to New York. 9.3 million live in Chicagoland (third largest metro) and they all can't be wrong. Pick Chicago! Its the best.

Chicago and Houston have a suburb as one of the best places to live. Number 2 is Naperville, IL 50 km from the Loop. Number 3 is Sugar Land, TX (two words NOT one) 30 km SW of Houston. The difference is that Naperville is the only boomburb in the North while Sugar Land is not a boomburb since the boomburbs in Texas are concentrated in the suburbs of Dallas. I haven't been too deeply into Naperville but I guess it is Sugar Land with more traffic and more people.

[chitownnburbs4eva]

This is a very interesting topic. I believe I can put in some input saying that I’m currently in Austin but live in Chicago. After reading this, I would actually say go for Austin or maybe try Dallas. Austin has a cheaper cost of living compared to Chicago. It also really helps that there is no state property tax in Texas. Austin is probably the most expensive city in Texas. This is why I might suggest Dallas, a city on the rise.

As for IT jobs, Austin should be a very good place to find an IT job as Austin is basically a little silicon valley. Corporations are also starting to move to Dallas because of all the growth.

As for the social life, Austin is hard to beat with 6th St, the live music capital of the world, and UT creating a crazy party scene. The city is surprisingly diverse, probably more diverse than most of the Chicago burbs. It is also very liberal (The city motto is “Keep Austin Weird”) and Texas is growing like crazy. Dallas has less of a nightlife, nowhere near Austin or Chicago.

Chicago is great too. Some portions of Chicago are very similar to Austin (Ex: Wrigleyville). The West burbs have numerous amounts of technology companies (I-88) and only a train ride to one of the best cities in the world. Austin, however, might be an all around better choice (though Chicago food is better than Texas food in my opinion).